1. Technical Field
The invention relates to inserter systems included in mailing machines, for assembling documents into batches or into collations and then for inserting the collations into envelopes. More particularly, the invention is directed to collation feeder systems for such inserter systems, and even more particularly to handling some errors in feeding collations.
2. Description of Related Art
Inserter systems capable of generating up to 18,000 mail pieces per hour are well known in the art and are generally used by organizations that produce a large volume of mailings where the content of each mail piece varies. Often, the inputs to an inserter system are computer-generated and printed documents, with each document containing information intended for a particular addressee. The documents may originate from a stack of cut sheets or from a web of forms. It is the function of the inserter system to accept the documents and produce the individual mailings that correspond to each document. To accomplish this, the typical inserter includes a variety of modules for performing different tasks on the documents passing through the inserter. Typical modules are: various web handling modules (slitters, cutters and bursters) for separating the continuous forms into singular or discrete documents, a sheet feeder module for feeding individual cut sheets, an accumulator module for assembling the sheets and/or form documents into a collation, a folder module for folding the collation into a desired configuration (Z-fold, C-fold, half fold), a conveyor/staging module for transporting and queuing the collation, a plurality of enclosure feeder modules for assembling and adding a packet of enclosures to the collation, an insert station module for inserting the collation into an envelope, and a control system to synchronize the operation of the overall inserter system to assure that the collations are properly assembled. Examples of such inserter systems are the 8 Series(trademark) and 9 Series(trademark) inserter systems available from Pitney Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn.
Typically, information for control of such inserter systems is read from a control document by a scanner associated with the most upstream module in the inserter system. The control document is generally an address bearing document and contains information specific to a particular addressee. Additionally, each control document contains control information for instructing the downstream modules on how to assemble a particular mail piece. Once scanned, the control information is transmitted to the control system of the inserter system; the control system monitors the processing of the collation through each module. Generally, the control document includes a barcode type control code or other machine-readable markings defining the number of forms or sheets to be accumulated into the collation, the number of enclosures from each of the enclosure feeder modules to be assembled to the collation, and information for other purposes, such as the selection of appropriate postage.
The enclosures assembled to a collation at an enclosure feeder modules are of two types, either generic or specific. The generic enclosures (advertisements, notices, business return envelopes, etc.) are of a general type that are not specifically directed to any particular addressee. Therefore, generic enclosures serve each addressee equally well. On the other hand, specific enclosures (canceled checks, invoice statements, etc.) contain unique information that is directed to a particular addressee. Providing mail pieces with specific enclosures is commonly referred to in the industry as matched mailing; specific enclosures are only meaningful for the appropriate addressee and thus must be matched to each addressee.
An example of a mail piece containing specific enclosures that can be produced by an inserter system is a monthly checking account statement which includes a summary of all account activity (documentsxe2x80x94input from the web or sheet feeder modules) and the canceled checks (specific enclosuresxe2x80x94input from the enclosure feeder modules). Accordingly, the account summary and the canceled checks associated with the account must be matched together by the inserter system prior to insertion into the envelope.
Therefore, in matched mail applications, a high degree of synchronization must be incorporated into the inserter system for it to function properly. Continuing with the example from above, the canceled checks must be placed into the enclosure feeders in a known order. In similar fashion, the account summaries must be input into the insert system in a corresponding order. In a typical operation, the control document will contain the name, address and account number of a particular addressee. The control code on the control document will inform the inserter system of the number of subsequent following sheets/forms that are necessary to complete the account summary. In response, the inserter system will collect the control document and subsequent sheets/forms in the accumulator module to form a collation. Once completed, the collation advances to the folder module for folding into a desired configuration. After folding, the collation advances to the conveyor/staging module. At this point, the insert system instructs the enclosure feeder modules to feed and collect a packet of enclosures based on information contained in the control code. For example, the insert system may instruct a first enclosure feeder module to feed five enclosures, and a second enclosure feeder module to feed ten enclosures. Next, the document collation is combined with the packet of enclosures to form a new collation, which is then fed downstream for further processing such as inserting it into an envelope. Therefore, it is understood that without a high degree of synchronization, or if something occurs to disturb the synchronization, problems in producing proper matched mailings can occur.
In the particular case of a matched mailing in which an inserter provides a customer bank statement along with corresponding canceled checks, the statement typically includes a code that is machine-readable and conveys to a controller module of the inserter the number of checks that should be included in the mail piece. A check feeder (enclosure feeder) feeds checks to the mail piece stream; typically, a check feeder feeds checks until an account divider page is encountered. Then the check feeder outputs to the controller the number of checks that were fed, and the controller for the inserter compares the number provided by the check feeder to the number conveyed by the code on the bank statement. If the two numbers are equal, the collation is correct and processing continues normally. If the two numbers are different, however, the controller will stop normal processing and operator intervention will be required.
According to the prior art, to prevent the check feeder from continuing to feed an excessive number of checks beyond the expected number (according to the code on the bank statement), a so-called (static) over-count number is provided as an input to the check feeder; a check-feeder will stop feeding checks if either an account divider page is encountered, or as soon as the number of checks fed exceeds the over-count number. A so-called over-count error can occur if either a divider page is missing or if a divider page is misread (by the check feeder). In either case, the account for which checks are being provided by the check feeder ends up with some checks from the next account in the processing stream (or possibly even later accounts than the very next account if the next account divider page is misread or missing). An operator must then reconcile checks from all affected accounts, or which there are always at least two: the account having the bank statement for which checks are being provided and at least one account subsequent in the processing stream.
It would therefore be advantageous to modify a prior art check feeder (or other, similarly operating insertion module) so as to avoid having to have an operator manually reconcile more than one collation in case of an over-count error, i.e. so as to ensure in case of an over-count error that an operator will only have to reconcile the collation for which the over-count error occurred.
Accordingly, in a first aspect of the invention, an enclosure feeder system is provided for use with an inserter system that combines collations in a sequence of collations with a given number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, the enclosure feeder system for providing the enclosures to be combined with the collations, the enclosures for each successive collation ordinarily being separator by a divider indicator for indicating the end of the sequence of enclosures for a collation, the enclosure feeder system comprising: enclosure feeding means, responsive to a feed count request for a collation and to an expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, for feeding the specific enclosures and for providing an enclosure count corresponding to the number of specific enclosures actually fed; and supervisory control means, responsive to the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, for providing the feed count request for a collation and the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, and further responsive to the enclosure count corresponding to the number of specific enclosures actually fed, for comparing the number of enclosures actually fed for a collation to the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures; wherein the enclosure feeding means continues feeding enclosures for the collation until either encountering a divider indicator or until the number of enclosures is equal to the expected number of enclosures.
In accord with the first aspect of the invention, the enclosure feeder system may also comprise an input analyzer for providing for each collation in the sequence of collations the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, and the input analyzer may determine the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures based on information provided in a control document included in each collation.
Also in accord with the first aspect of the invention, if the enclosure feeding means discontinues feeding enclosures before encountering and recognizing a divider indicator, then the enclosure feeding means may use as the enclosure count for the collation a number based on the expected number of enclosures, and otherwise may use the number of enclosures actually fed for the collation. Further, the number based on the expected number of enclosures used as the enclosure count may be one more than the expected number of enclosures.
In a second aspect of the invention, a method is provided for monitoring and coordinating the processing of a sequence of collations through an inserter system, the inserter system for combining each collation in the sequence of collations with a given number of respective corresponding specific enclosures, the enclosures for each successive collation ordinarily being separator by a divider indicator for indicating the end of the sequence of enclosures for a collation, the method comprising: determining for each collation in the sequence of collations the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures; searching for each collation for an indication of the end of the sequence of enclosures for the collation; and feeding the specific enclosures until either reaching the indication of the end of the sequence of enclosures for the collation or until having fed a number of enclosures equal to the expected number of enclosures.
In accord with the second aspect, the expected number of respective corresponding specific enclosures may be determined based on information provided in a control document included in each collation.
Also in accord with the second aspect, if the feeding of the specific enclosures is discontinued before encountering and recognizing an indication of the end of the sequence of enclosures, then the method may use as the enclosure count for the collation a number based on the expected number of enclosures, and otherwise may use as the enclosure count the number of enclosures actually fed for the collation. Further, the number based on the expected number of enclosures used as the enclosure count may be one more than the expected number of enclosures.